Sunday Artist Spotlight
January 31, 2016 at 2 pm | Victoria Cannizzo
(Alice Ford in this season's Falstaff)
Location: OperaDelaware Studios (4 South Poplar St. Wilmington, DE 19801)
Join us January 31st for one of OperaDelaware's favorite singers, soprano Victoria Cannizzo, in a Sunday afternoon recital featuring many of her personal favorites.
The program will also feature Jane Steele at the piano. It will be followed by a "talk back" session moderated by OD's General Director, Brendan Cooke. This is a wonderful opportunity to get to know one of today's most exciting operatic artists—up close and personal!
VICTORIA CANNIZZO BIOGRAPHY
Rising soprano Victoria Cannizzo was recently praised for her “dark and meaty” voice and her “stunning, shimmering pianissimo” in her portrayal of Leonora in Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” with Baltimore Concert Opera. Her 2013 performances of the same role at Tri-Cities Opera were hailed as “complex” and “absolutely exquisite.” A 2012 scholarship recipient at the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel, Ms. Cannizzo covered the role of Rosalinde in Johann Strauss’ “Die Fledermaus.” She also appeared as Donna Elvira in scenes from Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” and as Violetta in excerpts from Verdi’s “La Traviata.” Her January 2011 performance of the full role was hailed as “a mark of artistry…strikingly beautiful, Cannizzo captured the genesis of Violetta’s hopeful but tragic circumstance—to love and to be loved.”
Ms. Cannizzo was the 3rd Prize winner of the New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera’s 2015 Vocal Competition, Grand Prize winner of the 2014 Metropolitan International Vocal Competition, the 2nd Prize winner of the 2013 New Jersey State Opera Competition as well as a finalist grant winner from the 2013 Fritz & Lavinia Jensen Foundation and the Altamura/Caruso International Vocal Competition. She was the 2011 winner of the St. Bonaventure Prize from the Liederkranz Foundation in New York, where she appeared at the Winner’s Concert in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. The following May, she was one of two singers from New York chosen to advance to Vienna, Austria to compete in the prestigious Hans Gabor Belvedere International Singing Competition. Ms. Cannizzo remained in Europe, and in July 2011 was awarded two Young Artist Scholarships from Raina Kabaivanska and Renato Bruson for her participation in their master classes at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy. She was subsequently awarded a grant from the Raina Kabaivanska Fund and the America for Bulgaria Foundation, and made her European concert debut at the Sofia National Opera and Ballet Theater in Bulgaria in August 2011.
Ms. Cannizzo regularly performs throughout her native New Jersey with the Orchestra of St. Peter by the Sea, as well as in recital with Jane Steele. She has performed the roles of Lucia in “Lucia di Lammermoor,” the Countess in “Le Nozze di Figaro,” Liù in “Turandot,” Lauretta in “Gianni Schicchi,” and Cio-Cio San in “Madama Butterfly.” Other awards received include a 2010 Encouragement Award from the Schuyler Foundation for Career Bridges, which was renewed the following year, and the 2009 Rising Star Scholarship from the St. Cecilia Foundation. Ms. Cannizzo holds a Master of Music in Opera from Binghamton University/Tri-Cities Opera, and a Bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Chicago.
PROGRAM
PART I - 20th Century French songs
Ravel:
Vocalise-étude en forme de habañera.
Poulenc:
Violon (Fiançailles pour rire)
"C" (Deux Poèmes de Louis Aragon)
Bleuet (Poème de Guillaume Apollinaire)
PART II - 20th Century American songs
Barber:
Sure on this shining night
The Daisies
Copland:
Heart, we will forget him (Twelve poems of Emily Dickinson)
Simple Gifts (Old American Songs)
PART III.
Liszt:
Tre sonetti di Petrarca
(break)
PART IV
R. Strauss
Vier letzte Lieder